


Dangerous Territory

by sponsormusings



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluffy McFluff, Fourth of July, Holidays, Lawyer!Katniss, Modern AU, Single Parent Peeta Mellark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 15:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4354541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sponsormusings/pseuds/sponsormusings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things hadn't been the same for Katniss Everdeen ever since Peeta Mellark had come into her life. He'd wanted custody of his daughter, and as his lawyer, Katniss had been determined to help him win.</p><p>But it wasn’t ideal to have a crush on your client, especially when it was clear to her that the only girl he could see was one who liked to watch cartoons on a Saturday morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dangerous Territory

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on an anonymous prompt I received on tumblr “I’m the lawyer helping you get custody of your daughter and oops you’re all kinds of adorable with her and also i think she’s growing attached to me is this good or bad”.
> 
> I am not a lawyer. I know nothing, so the lawyery part is very vague ;)

She’d figured for the longest time that kids were simply not her forte.

Katniss Everdeen liked them just fine - after all, she had two nieces and three ‘honorary’ nephews courtesy of Madge and Gale, and they all thought Aunty Kathiss  _(4 year old Poppy had never been able to pronounce her name properly, and it had simply stuck)_  was the absolute best. She’d practically raised Prim through childhood after their father had died and their mother had drowned herself in work to forget her loss, and even after all these years, Katniss still knew how to handle a temper tantrum better than most anybody.

But Prim was 26 now and a mother herself who no longer warranted the close attention like that of a child, the temper tantrums she dealt with were those of adult lawyers who really should know better, and the last time Lily had wailed like a banshee while she held her, Katniss had promptly handed the squirming then-two year old back to Prim and headed for the wine fridge. Her days of being a stand-in parent were over, and she was quite happy with that.

But then Allie Mellark had skipped into her office, and it had become another story entirely.

The girl had quickly managed to wrap Katniss around her little finger with her cheeky grin and easygoing manner. In her short 7 years, she’d experienced plenty - Katniss knew Allie had now traveled the length and breadth of America, could count to ten in Spanish and coloured within the lines of her princess colouring book better than Katniss would ever be able to. She had the same honey coloured hair of her mother, and the startlingly bright blue eyes of her father.

Bright blue eyes framed with the longest lashes she’d ever seen that watched her from the other side of the table, carefully measuring each movement she took, even as he looked frazzled and frantic.

_Peeta Mellark was a story in and of himself, and was one that filled her with nerves she knew, professionally, that she shouldn’t have._

“I’m sorry we’re late.” Peeta Mellark was apologizing profusely. “The traffic was an absolute bi- er, it was awful.” His eyes tracked to where Allie was sprawled on the floor of Katniss’ office, studiously changing Cinderella from a study in black and white to pink and blue, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. He grimaced. “I’m still learning not to swear in front of her, even after all this time. Don’t want her to pick up any of my bad habits.”

“Peeta, you’re fine,” Katniss assured him, a small smile playing on her lips, even as her stomach dipped oddly. “You’re doing great with her - I haven’t heard a single f bomb out of her, and she seems happy.”

And the little girl did, considering what she’d gone through. Katniss could probably recite the file by rote.

_Accidental pregnancy following a drunken one night stand in college between two friends._

_The mother, Cashmere Morton, had kept it a secret and returned home to her parents in upstate New York._

_A slide into drugs, before rehab and a promise to her wealthy family that she would start over again. Then a train crash that had claimed her young life before she’d even hit 26._

_Her will - Katniss had been impressed that the young woman had actually had the foresight to create one - had clearly named Peeta Mellark as the father, and that sole custody was to be awarded to him. And while the young man had clearly been shocked when Katniss’ firm had tracked him down almost two years ago, he’d settled into his unexpected role of father easier than any of them probably thought he would._

_Except now her maternal grandparents were demanding custody, and the little girl and her father were stuck in a tug of war neither of them wanted._

Peeta grinned. “Well, considering that’s one word I’m  _very_ careful not to say in front of her, that’s good to hear.” Then the smile slid from his face, and his shoulders slumped. “Alright, so what’s the latest? Anything new?”

She glanced down at the notes in front of her, though it was more for show than necessity. “They’re still arguing your work environment isn’t conducive to raising raising a child. Their tune isn’t changing.”

Peeta rolled his eyes. “For crying out loud, I’m an artist, not a pimp.”

“They’re grasping at straws,” Katniss assured him. “I’m not entirely sure why they’ve decided to fight this now, but I assure you I won’t let them win. Allie will stay with you.”

He nodded, then ran a hand nervously through his tousled waves. “I just…my life has changed so much in the last year. I never expected to be a father so young, and I know when you first found me I was just so…shocked by it all. How Cashmere had never told me, how I’d missed so much of Allie’s life.” He glanced over at the young girl, and the worry in his face softened. “She’s everything to me, though, and I don’t want to lose her. I’ll do what it takes.”

Katniss couldn’t stop the lump forming in her throat even if she’d tried.

“You won’t lose her,” she assured him, forcing the lump back before she did something stupid and blurt out something inappropriate like how amazing he was.

_It wasn’t ideal to have a crush on your client, especially when it was clear to her that the only girl he could see was one who liked to watch cartoons on a Saturday morning._

The rest of the meeting flew by - to be honest, Katniss wasn’t sure why he’d requested it, there’d been no more communication from the Morton’s since the last time they’d met - but Katniss still felt the wave of disappointment as both she and Peeta rose to close out the hour. Allie snapped to attention, quickly gathering her books and bounding over to Katniss, enthusiastically wrapping her arms around her waist.

“I’m glad we got to see you today, Miss Katniss!” Allie exclaimed, the s’s hissing through a missing tooth.

“Ah, me too, Miss Mellark,” Katniss replied, tugging playfully on the end of the girls braid, and Allie grinned.

“Do you like my braid?” Allie asked, her voice suddenly taking on a sly tone that belied her years. Katniss nodded in reply. “Good! I got Daddy to do it so it would look like yours.”

She heard a choke, and looked up to see Peeta watching them, a blush creeping across his cheeks. “She, uh, was pretty insistent about it,” he said quietly.

“You did a good job,” Katniss murmured, her hand almost involuntarily reaching up to grip the end of her own trademark braid, a habit she hadn’t been able to break even after all these years.

“Thanks.”

They stared at each other for a moment before Allie broke the silence, bouncing up and down on her toes. “We’re having a party tomorrow for the fourth!” she suddenly announced. “Even though it’s the third, which is silly.”

“Allie-” Peeta began to interrupt, but his daughter barrelled on regardless.

“But we’re going to eat lots of stuff and Daddy has crackers, and our neighbours and Grandpa Mellark is coming and I want you to come!”

“Oh.” Katniss shifted her gaze from Allie back to Peeta again, noted the curiosity on his face. “I, uh, think you should ask your dad.”

“He’ll be okay with it, won’t you, Dad?” She didn’t even look at him, her eyes fixed firmly and pleadingly on Katniss.

“Only if Katniss wants to.”  _Was that a hitch in his voice? Did it crack at the end?_

She knew she shouldn’t. It was…inappropriate, or something. Surely.

But she was only going as a friend. That would be okay, right? As their lawyer, she just wanted to make sure they were happy, and that things were going fine with them. It was all about Allie, after all. And it wasn’t like she had plans tomorrow outside of case work. Which could wait.

Before she talked herself out of it, she nodded. “Okay. I’d love to.”

Allie squealed in excitement, and even Peeta’s smile seemed wider than it had in a long time. Her stomach did its weird flip thing again.

And she knew she was kidding herself that she was only interested in going as a friend, or as a lawyer.

She was in dangerous territory.

 

********

She knew she shouldn't have come, had told herself a million times in the last 24 hours that she should just retain their relationship as a purely professional one. Keep it to meetings in her office, scheduled by her assistant, her behind a desk, him in the chair on the other side, paperwork filled with legal jargon between them. None of this 'celebrating a national holiday and socialising' thing. She’d tried to talk herself out of going, even while she’d been sliding her feet into a pair of sandals, even while she’d been tugging on a pair of red shorts Prim had insisted she buy for the Fourth last year.

But she'd still left her apartment. Still driven the fifteen minutes to the small house with the manicured lawn and well-constructed back deck, still handed over the bottle of wine she’d brought as a gift. Still ate her weight in potato salad and corn on the cob, still devoured two huge slices of apple pie, and downed it all - albeit reluctantly - with a Budweiser. Still found herself looking for _him_ across the busy yard, still found herself blushing each time he caught her.

And despite telling herself that she _absolutely_ needed to go, that she shouldn’t stay any longer, she still didn't leave. And part of that was very much because of the young girl to her left.

"My favourites are the red ones."

Katniss - situated comfortably on the grass with her legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles - glanced beside her, where Allie was tugging on the two golden blonde plaits that hung on either side of her neck. Hairbands dotted with stars tied off the ends, the red, white and blue pattern perfectly matching her t-shirt to a patriotic 'T'. She smiled.

"They do stand out more than the others, don't they?"

Allie nodded, her expression dreamy in the fairy light and firework lit night; she didn't take her eyes off the colourful explosions in the sky that were being set off in the park a few streets away. "They make me happy. And red's my favourite colour and it was Mommy's too, so it makes them even more special." The corner of Allie's mouth tugged up. "And it's _way_ better than Daddy's favourite."

Marvelling that the girl could refer to her mother without her voice breaking - Katniss remembered from her own youth how hard it had been to even bring up the topic of her father or his sudden death without her heart feeling like it was going to crack in two - she found her gaze drifting back across the backyard to where Peeta Mellark stood. He had one hand in his pocket while the other nursed a beer, as he spoke to a middle aged woman who was dressed to the nines and was cuddling a chihuahua. She spun back before he caught her looking. "Yeah? What's your dad's favourite colour then?"

Allie turned to her, her nose wrinkling. "Orange," she whispered, as though it were a secret.

Katniss grimaced, pointing over her shoulder back towards Peeta and his guest. "Like that ladies' hair?"

Allie's eyes followed the direction Katniss was gesturing towards and giggled before she turned back; they both had matching conspiratorial looks on their faces when they looked at each other. "Nooooo! That's Miss Effie from next door and her hair looks like a pumpkin! Daddy's favourite is like..." she trailed off, her one front tooth biting down into her bottom lip as she thought deeply. "Oh! Like the sunset."

Katniss thought back to the sunset that had painted its way across the Mellark's small backyard not an hour before, and smiled. "That's a pretty colour, though."

"I like to think so."

Cheeks flushing pink at being caught talking about him, both Katniss and Allie looked up guiltily to find Peeta standing beside them.

"Sorry," Katniss apologised. "We weren't making fun of you or anything."

"No, just Effie," he grinned, lowering himself to the ground and resting his arms across his loosely updrawn knees. "Allie, I told you not to make fun of her hair."

"But it _looks like a pumpkin_ ," she stage whispered, and both Katniss and Peeta laughed at the intensity in her voice.

"Okay, okay, fine, so it does. But try not to say it when she's in our own backyard, alright? Now go roundup Rue and get some ice-cream before your dessert time is done."

Allie scrambled to her feet, already squealing at the idea of ice-cream sandwiches with her best friend, and scampered off across the lawn.

"Anyone would think she's never had ice-cream before," he commented.

"Maybe she hasn't." Katniss side-eyed him. "As your lawyer, I'm most concerned about her welfare. That includes her ice-cream intake, and ensuring she’s well informed of its deliciousness."

"You have nothing to worry about, Ma’am. While I will admit Allie only ever gets ice-cream as a treat, she eats more than her fair share of sweets," he replied, then cringed, raising a hand in supplication. "My dad."

"Ahhhh." He didn't need to say anything more - Nolan Mellark's bakery on the corner of Twelfth and Merchant was famous city wide. Plus, her stomach was still reminding her that it was full of the glory of his apple pie. "Then I guess I can give you a pass on limited ice-cream if she gets to eat the delicacies from there. In moderation, of course."

They smiled at each other then, and Katniss felt that all too familiar lurch in her stomach that happened everytime he did that. Him looking at her was one thing - him smiling at her with his lopsided grin, the corners of his eyes crinkling, was another entirely.

_You shouldn't have come, Katniss! Bad idea!_

"I try to be good with Allie most times," he told her. "But I’ll admit that it's still hard trying not to spoil her."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

He blinked, surprise crossing his face. "Oh. I, uh, didn't know you had kids."

"I don't."

"But you just said..."

"Oh." Katniss thought back to what she'd said, realised how it sounded. "Ah, yeah. No, no kids. I just looked after my sister a lot while we were growing up, it almost felt like I was her pseudo-mom. We didn’t have a lot back then, and whenever I had enough money put aside, I’d always spend it on her - a book, a new dress, a cake. Even when we got older it was the same.” She shrugged. “She’s a fully-fledged adult now, who had two daughters delivered to her by a stork, but sometimes..."

"I guess that protective-slash-spoiling-them-rotten feeling never goes away, huh?" Peeta reasoned, and she laughed.

"Yeah, I guess that's about right." Drawing her legs in closer so that they were crossed in front of her, she let her hands drop limply in her lap. "I, uh wanted to thank you for inviting me tonight. It's really good to see how happy Allie is with you, and here." She looked around the yard that was still semi-full of people, at the artful lights that Peeta had placed around to ensure the dark was warded off the later it got. "It's a good place."

Peeta nodded. "Yeah, it is. I thought I'd miss my apartment when I sold it for this place, but...it was best for Allie, for us. And I love it. It's a good family home." His hand drifted to the ground, plucking at the grass by his feet; it was an oddly nervous gesture. "And I think Allie backed you into a corner and railroaded you into coming, so I feel like I should be thanking _you_ for taking the time to come.”

"Allie didn’t railroad me," Katniss argued. "I wanted to come." _Of course you did. Even though you KNOW you shouldn't have._

"Well, I’m glad you did - it made her day. She likes you a lot."

"I like her too," Katniss replied.

"And..." Peeta let his words trail off, licked his lips. He wouldn’t look at her, and considering the guy rarely _didn’t_ make eye-contact, it made her nervous. "And...wow. This is really weird for me."

Katniss frowned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I'm used to knowing all the right things to say, and right now I don't." She didn't say anything, just waited patiently - and in complete and utter confusion. “I, uh, was kind of glad when Allie asked you to come.”

“Oh?” Her heart sped up, until she was worried it was going to pound out of her chest.

“Yeah. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh.” Her heart slowed back down to its normal rate. It was probably just about the case, about Allie’s grandparents, about-

“I wanted to ask you if, when this is all over and the custody suit is settled, if you’d go on a date with me.”

Katniss’ mouth dropped open. “What?” Her voice squeaked, and even to her own ears, it sounded terror filled.

Peeta ran his hand over his face, covering his eyes as a groan fell from his lips. “Ahhh, shit. I’m so sorry. I read you all wrong. I thought...I thought you were interested too, and I felt really weird asking you in your office, especially when we were meeting to discuss my child’s custody, and-”

Katniss shook her head, interrupted him mid sentence. “No, wait, you thought I was interested _too_? As in, you’re interested in me?” _This didn’t make any sense._ Sure, Prim and Madge - her best friend - had always told her she was oblivious to the attentions of guys who were interested, but she’d been so _attentive_ with Peeta. Ridiculously attentive, because she’d been so stupidly attracted to him. And she’d picked up on nothing but his overwhelming love and care and the welfare of his daughter.

“You didn’t know?” He lowered his hand, looked at her in surprise. “I thought I was so obvious. Hell, that last meeting, I requested it for basically no reason at all other than to see you, and I felt like such a needy idiot, wasting your time like that, and I figured you’d know straight away it was just a stupid ploy to see you. And your braid...I stare at it so much, I probably could have braided Allie’s hair in my sleep...”

He rambled until he fell into silence, his face bright red, hers devoid of colour. “No, I had no idea,” Katniss finally replied softly, and her stomach twisted, though not with nerves. Instead it pulsed with good old fashioned, ‘strip off his clothes and have her way with him’ lust.

She wanted him, and surprisingly, amazingly, unexpectedly, he wanted her too.

She took a deep breath, figured out the best way to reply. “Peeta, I want to say yes, I really do…” she watched as his shoulders slumped slightly, though he schooled his face valiantly into a look of cool acceptance. “But I can’t. Not now.”

Peeta nodded. “I understand. I totally respect you saying no. And I’m sorry if it will make things awkward between us with the rest of the case…” He trailed off again, as his eyebrows drew together in consternation. “Wait. You said not _now_. Does that mean maybe in the future? That you’re interested?”

How could such an attractive, funny, charming, successful man who so clearly doted on his daughter even consider for half a second that she _wouldn’t_ be?

Katniss coughed slightly. “Uh, yeah. I am. But I can’t say yes, not while you’re still my client. I know you’re asking for after it’s all done, but I still can’t say yes now. It wouldn’t be right. I can’t afford to think that way right now.”

His blue eyes shone. “But if I asked you then, if I asked you later, would you say yes?”

“Dadddyyyyyyyy!” Almost perfectly on cue, Allie flew across the lawn, launching herself into Peeta’s lap, knocking them both backwards. “I got ice-cream, and I ate it all!”

“Ooof,” he replied, shifting her so that they were both sprawled on their backs on the grass. “Geez, kiddo, did you save any for me?”

“Nope!”

“I’m not surprised, Little Miss Greedy.”

“I’m not!” Allie sat up, looked over at Katniss. “I’m not Little Miss Greedy, am I, Miss Katniss?”

“Definitely not. You just like ice-cream.”

“See, Daddy?” Allie looked at him triumphantly. “Miss Katniss understands.”

“She certainly does.” Peeta pulled himself up until he was resting on his forearms, his hair now a disheveled mess. He looked straight at her, his gaze piercing. “I think she’s got a very good understanding of things now. We both do.” His eyebrow raised as if in question, and Katniss closed her eyes briefly before nodding. Yes, she understood things very clearly.

This case was likely to feel like the longest of her life.

********

“Miss Everdeen?”

She’d known he’d come. Had known the minute the paperwork had been finalised, had known the minute that Allie was officially his without a doubt, his custody no longer in question, that he’d be there.

And she’d been waiting. Patiently, impatiently, it didn’t matter. Seeing him over the last few months, and knowing how attracted she was to him - and growing increasingly aware of how attracted he was to her - had been like hell. And over the last few weeks while everything wrapped up, a new art exhibition he was holding in LA had limited their contact to phone and email, meaning she hadn’t even had a chance to check him out each time he’d left her office. Though, she admitted to herself, that had probably been a good thing...

Katniss finally glanced up from the case file in front of her, drawing her reading glasses off and dropping them onto the papers, as her heart did a slow roll in her chest. There he was, leaning against the doorframe, sunglasses pushed up on top of his wayward blond waves, his arms folded across his chest. A small smile played across his lips and his blue eyes were full of mischief.

“Your assistant said I’d find you in here.”

Katniss snorted. “My assistant needs to be reminded that I have a phone for her to call me on to announce visitors.”

Peeta laughed. “You’re not going to fire her over a little thing like this, are you?”

Katniss drew herself to her feet, moved around the other side of her desk. “Good assistants are hard to come by - I suppose Lavinia’s safe for another day.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He pushed away from the doorframe, crossed the room until the only thing that separated them was one of her client chairs. He looked as good - if not better - than the last time she’d seen him, and he exuded happiness. “You look good, Katniss.”

She flushed. “I...so do you. Things must be going well for you and Allie now that the dust has settled.”

He grinned, wide and bright. “They’re going great. She’s the best. She loved being in LA with me.”

“I’ll bet she had a great time.”

“We both did. And it’s a huge relief that the case is done - we’re so glad it’s over.” He shrugged, took a deep breath. “But you know that’s not why I’m here, right? That’s all over with.”

She swallowed nervously, nodded. Their conversation over that long weekend had played in her head on a loop ever since. “Yeah. Yeah, I do know.”

“And so you know why I _am_ here?”

She nodded again.

He stepped around the chair, and then he was so close she could almost feel the heat from his skin. He smelt like paint and turpentine and aftershave and, oddly enough, cinnamon - the combination was strangely intoxicating, and lust curled through her belly. “So if I ask you today, what would you say?”

“Ask me and you’ll find out.” _Oh God, since when did she play hard to get? Since when did she play ever?_

“Katniss.” Peeta reached out, his fingers brushing gently against the end of her braid. She felt her shoulder twitch in anticipation of his hand being so close to her, found her gaze dropping to his mouth and imagining what it would feel like to have those lips on hers. “Would you like to go out for a drink tonight? Or tomor-”

“Yes.” He’d barely had time to finish asking her before the reply was tumbling from her mouth, and he laughed. “But on one condition.”

His laugh stopped abruptly, and he took another step closer. “And what condition would that be?”

“That if you need any legal advice in the future, you find a new lawyer. I’m now officially unavailable in any form of professional capacity.”

Peeta’s hand slid from the end of her hair, down her arm, until his fingers were entwined with hers. His eyebrow quirked up in question. “But in an _unprofessional_ capacity?”

She found herself blushing. “I have some free time.”

“Then that’s definitely a condition I can agree with,” he murmured, and he lowered his mouth to hers.

It felt better than she could have imagined.

 

 


End file.
